I decided to take down my 100 song challenge set because I was unhappy with how most of them turned out, and also I decided to quit because I kept getting godawful songs. I'm reposting the two fics I was happy with - here's one.

The song I got for this one was "Fire and Brimstone" from American McGee's Alice OST.

Roxas had never been into Axel's room before, and with good reason, in his opinion. Axel, the Flurry of Dancing Flames, Organization XIII's number eight, was possibly one of the most impulsive creatures Roxas had ever laid eyes on, heart or no, and he didn't even want to imagine what the red-haired Nobody's room looked like.

…but sometimes, he did. On a slow day, when his 'mission' for the afternoon included making sure that Vexen didn't attempt to poison Marluxia while on cooking duty or perhaps hiding Zexion's pens to temporarily stem the flow of emo poetry tacked on the walls of the Castle That Never Was, he would sit and ponder what could possibly lie beyond the heavy oak door with a brass plaque and knocker with 'VIII' emblazoned upon it. It wasn't that Axel hadn't invited him over before - no, that certainly wasn't a problem, the skeletal firebringer asked him on an almost daily business if he'd care to come over for some Call of Duty, perhaps a World of Warcraft LAN party?

Despite Axel's friendly offers, Roxas always found himself making up an excuse, or flat out refusing when he was in one of his 'moods'. His friend's fiery personality (and temper) combined with his affinity for literal flames made Roxas think a little… what was a good phrase for it… fire and brimstone, maybe?

Oh, he was a terrible person, and he knew it. Axel wasn't Lucifer incarnate, though that would explain quite a bit. Perhaps Satan's heart had been stolen? Did the Devil even have a heart? It was probably spicy, if he did - Roxas felt sorry for the poor Heartless that stole that guy's heart…

"Roxas?"

"Hunh?" Roxas looked up to see Vexen standing over a pot of stew with some seasonings in hand and a questioning expression on his face. "What do you want?"

Vexen sniffed derisively and turned back to his cooking. "I figured that you'd want to check and make sure I'm not putting ammonia into the food again, but I guess you have better things to do, like stare at a wall."

Roxas rolled his eyes. Only Vexen would get offended at him for not bothering to check if he had somehow slipped some of the chemicals from his lab into the pepper. "Maybe I want you to poison them," he replied, gazing down at his feet which were dangling over the edge of the counter upon which he sat. "You know, Saix used my hairbrush and I had fleas for a week, after all."

"Funny, I didn't hear about that," grumbled Vexen, reaching up and turning on the next burner over and sidestepping away from Roxas.

Roxas kicked his legs languidly, paying attention to the sensation of his muscles expanding and contracting with a look of vague interest in his eyes. "Have you ever been in Axel's room before?" he asked finally, turning his robin's egg eyes toward the elder Nobody.

"Hell no," Vexen spat reflexively, though he cleared his throat and amended, "I would never dream of entering that firebug's demesne, far too warm for my taste. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," Roxas replied with a shrug. Vexen raised an eyebrow at him and he knew that the old gossip wouldn't let him rest until he spilled the beans - not literally, of course, as the entire stew would be ruined along with them, but the metaphorical beans of truth and justice. "Alright, alright. I know Axel and I pal around a lot, but… I've never been in his room before."

"Likely for the best," Vexen murmured with a small nod as he stirred something into the pot. "Go on."

"See, the thing is…" He paused, setting his chin in his hand in thought, and Vexen thought he was going to get something truly juicy this time. Zexion would be thrilled, perhaps even write one of his lovely songs about it. "I have this weird mental image in my mind that Axel's room looks like the fiery depths of hell and when he goes in there a bunch of shadow demons pop out from under his bed and dance around and he turns into Satan and plays Metallica on a flying v and-"

Vexen cut him off with a ladle to the mouth, staring at him like some sort of basket case. "Roxas, are you feeling alright?"

"I think so," Roxas mumbled around the spoon, trying not to get any of the broth dripping off of it in his mouth. "Do I sound crazy?"

"Quite frankly, my dear boy, you sound crazier than Number Eight himself," the Academic replied, shaking his head piteously. "Perhaps it would be best if you went to his room right now and confronted your insanity head-on. If I remember correctly, Axel has garden duty again so he won't even be in there."

Roxas frowned, considering it briefly. "Well… Yeah, I guess it couldn't hurt. No poisoning Marluxia, right?"

"Very well," Vexen replied as Roxas hopped off the counter and slipped out the door, a cruel smirk tugging at the corners of his lips as he heard the door slap shut behind the blonde Keybearer. "You never said anything about Larxene~"

Meanwhile, it took Roxas a good ten minutes to navigate up from the kitchen, past the meeting hall, through Xigbar's firing range (while being fired upon), across the library, and to the living quarters. He eventually reached a long hallway, lined with numbered doors on both sides. It started at XIII - his room - and alternated up to the end of the hall, where Xemnas' door stood.

Roxas quickly found door VIII, raised a hand to knock, decided against it. Axel wouldn't be in there, would he? Of course not, so what was the sense in knocking? Feeling silly, he turned the knob and pushed the door open, only to find… a very normal-looking room. It was tidy enough, though the maroon comforter on the bed was slightly tousled as though someone had sat on it at some point. There was a bookshelf crammed with novels and walkthroughs for various game titles, a desk with the same laptop computer that Roxas (and the rest of the Organization) had in sleep mode and a few mission files, and a few assorted pieces of decidedly red-themed furniture. And… a door, in the back, which stood slightly ajar, light shining out through the crack.

"Helloo?"

Roxas jumped as Axel's head poked out from behind the open door, his face lighting up when he saw his blonde buddy standing there. "Hey there, Roxas! Come to play?"

"Er… Yeah," Roxas replied, nodding. He squinted at Axel and pointed at his own face with a small frown. "You've got a bit of, uh…"

"Yeah, I know," grumbled Axel, rubbing his face where a patch of dirt obscured his milky white skin. "Marluxia came out and started throwing soil at me for botching his petunias." He pulled a face, at which Roxas laughed.

"What a hippie. Anyways, what smells? Your room reeks of cinnamon," Roxas chuckled, quickly warming up to the redhead's bedroom. He couldn't believe that he had been nervous about this place before. It wasn't some sex dungeon or torture pit like Xigbar's room surely was.

"Incense," Axel said quickly, slipping out of the back room and shutting the door behind him with a snap. "Anyways, I got this really cool map pack that I want to show you, it's like a beta or something…"

Roxas grinned and didn't notice as Axel stomped discretely on a shadowy tendril grasping at his ankle from under the door before half skipping over to his television and beckoning his friend over. What he didn't know couldn't hurt him.